Grown Brilliance vs. Brilliant Earth
A thorough comparison of Grown Brilliance and Brilliant Earth, to help you decide which is best for you
Grown Brilliance and Brilliant Earth are two online diamond retailers dedicated to the mission of delivering ethically-sourced diamonds to customers that place a priority on the origins of their jewelery.
So, they have similar positioning in the crowded diamond ring market, but which is the best fit for you?
Grown Brilliance is a diamond retailer with a unique approach to the jewelry industry. Their founder Akshie Jhaveri set out to provide an online platform to allow customers a high luxury jewelry experience using carbon-neutral lab grown diamonds exclusively.
They have positioned themselves as the first ever certified lab grown diamond luxury high jewelry company.. Quite a mouthful!
Grown Brilliance prides itself on delivering the same quality and brilliance as mined diamonds but without the environmental and ethical concerns associated with traditional diamond mining. Additionally, over 75% of the staff are female workers.
The company is headquartered in New York City and operates primarily online with 8 physical locations in select major cities including Los Angeles, Dallas, and Chicago.
Brilliant Earth, founded in 2005 by Beth Gerstein and Eric Grossberg, is a diamond retailer with a mission to provide ethically sourced and environmentally responsible jewelry.
Their “Beyond Conflict-Free” campaign has been at the forefront of the company, expressing a desire to push ethical diamond concerns past the restrictions of the Kimberley Process. They are known as the first online diamond retailers to implement blockchain technology to track the journey of mined diamonds.
Brilliant Earth supports ethically mined diamonds and lab grown diamonds as well as ethical gemstones. Their charitable efforts and collections often see proceeds donated to social concerns in the jewelry industry.
While Brilliant Earth started primarily an online retailer, they now have a significant real-world presence, with 37 locations in the US including their headquarters in San Francisco, California.
Diamond Selection and Quality
Choosing a diamond isn’t something most people do too frequently, so it’s important to get it right the first time. There can be a huge difference in the quality and value delivered by retailers, especially when it comes to lab-grown stones.
In this section we’ll look at several factors:
- Diamond choice
- Diamond quality
- Diamond imagery
Natural diamonds are also called mined diamonds. Mined diamonds are considered more rare than lab grown diamonds, but both are real diamonds. Lab grown diamonds don’t hold the same rarity as mined diamonds, but they come less expensive than mined diamonds of the same quality. Some may prefer the rarity of mined diamonds while others may opt for a diamond that’s less expensive and better for the environment.
If you’re looking for lab grown diamonds, Grown Brilliance has a large collection of 159,020 lab-grown diamonds of various carat weights and qualities. But if you’re hoping to find mined diamonds, Grown Brilliance doesn’t carry any.
No matter which diamond origin you prefer, you can be sure to find it at Brilliant Earth. Brilliant Earth carries around 75,952 natural diamonds and 348,373 lab grown diamonds.
Certifications and Ethical Sourcing
It is important to buy certified diamonds from a reputable grading laboratory that can corroborate the grades and quality your diamond was being sold for. Diamond certificates and grading reports give a detailed analysis of your diamond’s quality, ensuring its cut, color, clarity, and carat weight are what the retailer says it was.
Reputable laboratories that provide consistent diamond grading include the GIA, AGS, and IGI certifications. Typically, IGI and GIA certified diamonds are recommended for lab grown diamonds.
Grown Brilliance has GIA, IGI, and GCAL certifications. GCAL certifications aren’t necessarily bad, but they aren’t as valued as other grading labs.
Brilliant Earth provides GIA certifications for most of their natural diamonds and IGI for many of their lab diamonds. They also have HRD certifications, but I recommend avoiding those.
Because Grown Brilliance only offers lab grown diamonds, they show their commitment to 100% conflict-free diamond origins while minimizing environment concerns and safe labor practices in the mining industry. Their labs are carbon-neutral, which only reinforces their commitment to a more ethical jewelry industry. Their packaging is also 100% recyclable. Currently, Grown Brilliance uses 95% recycled gold and hopes to be 100% by 2025.
Brilliant Earth has many different ways the company shows its care toward ethical jewelry from a mined diamond and lab diamond perspective. Brilliant Earth’s mined diamonds come from Canada or Botswana. A portion of the mined diamonds at Brilliant Earth are recycled diamonds or blockchain diamonds that provide a secure ledger that reveals your diamond’s journey from mine to jewelry case.
While not all of the lab grown diamonds at Brilliant Earth are 100% sustainable, you can filter the diamonds to find the ones that are.
In addition to their diamond options, Brilliant Earth’s Moyo and Virtu gemstones go toward mining communities in other countries as well as female artisans in different countries.
While Brilliant Earth focuses on various social efforts and providing ethical options for both natural and lab diamonds, Grown Brilliance focuses on sustainable and conflict-free origins by only providing lab grown diamonds.
Pricing and Value
One of the first things people look at when comparing diamonds is the price tag. However, an expensive diamond does not guarantee a beautiful diamond. Diamond prices are based on a number of different factors, but the diamond grades are a significant contribution, especially carat weight.
SInce Grown Brilliance doesn’t provide natural diamonds, we’ll compare one of their sustainable lab grown diamonds with one of Brilliant Earth’s lab grown diamonds.
I’ve chosen a sustainable 1.50ct excellent cut lab grown diamond from Grown Brilliance with a G color grade and VS1 clarity. The price listed for this diamond is $1575. This diamond is an IGI certified diamond.
I’ve checked the sustainable box and found a comparable lab grown diamond in Brilliant Earth’s inventory. This diamond also weighs 1.50cts with G color and VS1 clarity. It is a IGI certified diamond as well. The price for this diamond is $2370.
Between the two diamonds, it’s clear that Grown Brilliance’s diamond is almost $800 less expensive than Brilliant Earth’s.
However, price differences between retailers can depend on a lot of things. Firstly, the details beyond the 4Cs can affect price. For example, the Brilliant Earth diamond has a larger face-up measurement, resulting in it looking slightly bigger than the Grown Brilliance diamond. They still weigh the same, but the carat weight is distributed slightly differently. The average person can’t tell the difference when looking at the diamond, but if you’re wanting to compare, that is a slight difference between the two.
Other things that may contribute to Brilliant Earth’s higher price of a similar quality diamond may be the overhead costs. While Brilliant Earth operates online, they also have over 30 locations with all of their costs to run their stores. All of the costs associated with running a store may be distributed in their diamond prices.
Grown Brilliance scores 4.5/5 for value for money, while Brilliant Earth scores 4/5. While it may be understood that Brilliant Earth’s overhead costs contribute to higher prices, most customers may prefer the less expensive diamond from Grown Brilliance.
Customization and Design Options
Finding the right ring for you is a case of whittling down the almost infinite options of diamond shape, size and quality and pairing it with your perfect setting.
This can be a daunting task, so having a well-thought out website that makes it easy to find the right combination for you can make a huge difference to how enjoyable the process is.
Following the trend of most online diamond jewelers, Grown Brilliance allows you to design your own ring by choosing a loose diamond and a setting. You may also select the ‘Truly Custom’ tab, which is a full-custom process that involves you sending in inspiration and all your wishes for a one-of-a-kind lab created engagement ring.
They will easily take you through the process of designing a ring from scratch by asking you questions and tailoring your design to the exact specification. This is an excellent way for you to personalize a lab diamond ring from scratch. Prices are dependent upon the design and diamond chosen.
When you select a diamond from their inventory of over 150,000 lab grown diamonds, you’re able to narrow down the diamond filters to find your perfect diamond. Select grade ranges and a carat weight. There are advanced filters you can click to modify filters by measurements and grading labs too.
I like the way Grown Brilliance has their diamond results listed. Grown Brilliance’s display shows the different diamond details in bolder font, making it easier to see and compare the initial differences. I usually like to be able to see the diamond as I’m scrolling, but I do appreciate this list form and prefer it to Brilliant Earth’s, which I’ll talk about a little later.
You can scan and scroll down the results easily, comparing the details shown. When you click the details button, you can see the diamond in an interactive 360˚ video. By clicking during the magnified rotation, you can stop and drag your diamond in position. The magnify button can help you magnify areas of the diamond even further. This can help when trying to identify clarity characteristics in lower clarity grades.
You can’t view the diamond certificate online, which I’ve seen before with some diamond retailers. If you want to see the grading report, you’ll need to contact the company about it.
Once you’ve selected the diamond you want for your engagement ring, you’re taken to the ring settings. Instead of a bunch of different settings listed by category, Grown Brilliance has an innovative Setting Builder system that I find intriguing, but a little complicated.
In the window, you start with a diamond ring with a plain solitaire shank. To the right, you can click the side arrows to switch your band design and customize it further. Each level is given around 6 options, but there are many combinations you could make.
Your ring in the left window will change according to the setting options you’ve selected. You can interact and drag the ring seamlessly to observe every detail of the ring from every angle. I’m honestly blown away with the quality of the video and details able to be seen.
While I’ve seen similar ring builders to this on Kay Jewelers and Zales websites, this ring builder is a fresh and modern take that provides a non-traditional platform to choose a ring setting online. Those looking for something different may find themselves gravitating toward Grown Brilliance’s engagement ring design options.
While Grown Brilliance’s site caters to modern tastes and innovative designs, Brilliant Earth’s website is designed with every customer in mind. Unlike Grown Brilliance, Brilliant Earth expands their ethical concerns to both natural and lab grown diamonds, expanding their customer base.
Like Grown Brilliance, you can opt to select your diamond or setting first. You are given many filters to choose between over three separate columns. I don’t like having to switch between tabs to see the different filters, but there are a lot of them.
In addition to the 4Cs of diamond quality and the measurements, natural diamonds at Brilliant Earth can be filtered by checking the Botwana, Canada, recycled, or blockchain diamond boxes. Recycled diamonds at Brilliant Earth are diamonds that have been previously owned and used, then recut and repurposed into a new diamond. This eliminates the need for additional mining and the humanities associated with mining practices.
Blockchain diamonds fuse secure digital blockchain technology to the production of diamonds. You’ll have an encrypted, unhackable ledger that details your diamond’s sourcing and manufacturing journey, providing complete transparency to customers in every phase of production.
I’ve never been a big fan of the way Brilliant Earth displays your results in list form. The font is very small on a computer. While I don’t like the listings, I do like that you can preview the diamond before clicking it. You can move the diamond’s 360˚ video without needing to open the diamond in a new page.
Once you’ve clicked into the diamond, you’ll find the viewer very similar to Grown Brilliance’s. You can control the 360˚ video by dragging and clicking where you want it to stop. It also shows the entire back of the diamond, unlike other online diamond retailers.
After you’ve chosen your diamond, you’re taken to Brilliant Earth’s engagement ring settings. They have over 400 ring settings of various styles. Many of them are delicate and petite, catering to unique tastes and preferences.
There’s plenty of tools and things to utilize when viewing both the diamond and the setting together in the final step before checkout. You can use the tone changer to see what the ring might look like on different skin tones, the 360˚ video on the diamond and the ring are separate, and you can see your ring on a model in motion to give you an idea what it might look like far away. They even include HD photos of the ring from the side to see its profile view.
All in all, Brilliant Earth does a fine job of taking you through the steps of an easy creative process that provides plenty of interactive features and pictures to give customers a good idea of the engagement ring they’re trying to buy online.
Both Grown Brilliance and Brilliant Earth provide different ways of creating an engagement ring online. For those interested in interactive custom engagement rings, they may be drawn to Grown Brilliance’s modern diamond builder. For those wanting to choose a natural diamond or select from a large selection of engagement ring settings, they may be drawn to Brilliant Earth’s set up.
Service: Both Before & After Purchase
The price of a diamond is a significant buying factor, but it isn’t the only thing to pay attention to before making your final decision. Customer service and support often make or break a purchase, regardless of price.
Let’s see what Brilliant Earth and Grown Brilliance have in terms of customer support and service policies.
Brilliant Earth has 24/7 customer service available to contact via live chat, text, phone, or email. Alternatively, you can visit them at one of their locations across the US. Each store may have its own operating hours. You can also book a virtual appointment online at your convenience.
Grown Brilliance’s operation hours are limited, but should come as no surprise because they are a lesser-known company. You can contact the company via live chat, email, or phone during operation hours of 9am to 10pm ET seven days a week. You are also able to book a virtual appointment or visit them at one of their 8 stores if you happen to live near one.
Even though their customer support hours aren’t 24/7, they can still accommodate you better than other diamond retailers with more limited hours.
Additional Services
Aside from customer support availability and hours of operation, many customers seek out additional services from diamond companies, such as engraving or international delivery. Up next, we’ll compare the different policies and procedures done by both Brilliant Earth and Grown Brilliance.
Grown Brilliance:
- Engraving: Grown Brilliance offers engraving. It states on their website that there may be a fee, but there wasn’t when I added an engraving to my ring.
- Financing: Financing at Grown Brilliance is available through Affirm.
- Shipping: Grown Brilliance offers free shipping options for US and international customers.
- Resizing: Grown Brilliance offers a free resizing within 30 days. US customers can get a free resizing once per year after that, but you have to pay shipping to them. They ship it back for free.
- Returns: Items can be returned to Grown Brilliance within 30 days. During holiday times, the return period is extended.
- Warranty: Grown Brilliance offers a manufacturer’s warranty that covers factory defects. They offer repair plans through Extend to cover wear and tear and additional repairs.
- Upgrade: Diamonds at Grown Brilliance are not eligible for upgrades.
- Physical Stores: Grown Brilliance has 8 stores in major US cities.
Brilliant Earth:
- Engraving: Brilliant Earth offers engraving for a $40 fee.
- Financing: Financing at Brilliant Earth is available through Wells Fargo and Affirm.
- Shipping: Brilliant Earth has free shipping to the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.
- Resizing: Brilliant Earth offers a free resizing within 60 days.
- Returns: Items can be returned to Brilliant Earth within 30 days.
- Warranty: Brilliant Earth covers all defects within a free lifetime manufacturer’s warranty. You can select a repair plan from Extend for a fee.
- Upgrade: Brilliant Earth allows natural diamonds to be upgraded for 1.5x higher cost and lab-grown diamonds for 2x greater in value.
- Physical Stores: Brilliant Earth has 37 physical stores within the US, with most of them being in California.
Payment and Financing Options
Grown Brilliance accepts a variety of payment methods, including credit cards, bank wire transfers, PayPal, Google Pay, ApplePay, and Venmo pay (mobile only). This flexibility ensures that you can choose a payment method that’s most convenient for you.
For a non-credit option, consider applying for their lease to own option through Katapult. You simply fill out the application and are given an instant decision. Find out more about Katapult leasing here.
Grown Brilliance offers financing options through Affirm, which allows US customers to apply online and receive an instant decision. Make easy monthly payments up to 36 months with APR rates as low as 0%.
Financing is not available for international customers.
Brilliant Earth also accepts major credit cards, bank wire transfers, personal checks, and PayPal. They also offer the option of splitting your payment between two credit cards, which can be beneficial if you have spending limits on your cards.
Financing at Brilliant Earth is offered through Affirm or Wells Fargo. Affirm allows you to split the cost of your jewelry through easy payments split up to 36 months with varied APR rates. The Wells Fargo plan gives you 12 months no-interest if paid in full.
Warranty and Repairs
It’s important to know the difference between a manufacturer’s warranty and a repair warranty. Many companies offer a free lifetime warranty, but it only covers defects, not wear and tear like rhodium plating, prong retipping, or reshaping a bent band.
Grown Brilliance offers a free lifetime manufacturer’s warranty that provides protection from manufacturing defects. If you suspect your ring has a defect, you can email customer service and they will provide you a free shipping label. Once your item is assessed for defects they will fix and ship it back to you for free. If the repair is not under the manufacturer warranty, they will give you a price quote for the repair and you will pay for both shipping and the repair itself.
For a repair plan that covers repairs like rhodium plating, prong retipping, and stone resetting, Grown Brilliance has provided options through their partners at Extend. Extend repair plan options are given during your design process and can be added on during checkout. The price and terms of Extend plans vary based on item and length of time.
Brilliant Earth also has a lifetime manufacturing warranty that guarantees all jewelry free of defects. This does not cover routine maintenance or repairs.
If you think your jewelry has a defect, you’ll need to contact Brilliant Earth’s customer care. A free return label is provided for customers in the US, CAN, AUS, and UK. Outside of these countries, a $50 fee will be charged to send in. It is refunded if your jewelry is found under warranty.
Repairs not covered under the warranty can be done for a cost. Brilliant Earth will contact you with the nature and price of the repair and you can decide if you want it done. Brilliant Earth will replace any damaged fine jewelry within 60 days of purchase. Outside of those 60 days, they will replace fine jewelry pieces under $1,000 in value.
Brilliant Earth has also partnered with Extend to provide a repair plan for your jewelry. Plans range from 2 years to lifetime, allowing you to tailor the repair plan to your needs. Claims are done through the Extend site here.
Shipping and Returns
Grown Brilliance offers free shipping on all orders for both US and international customers. Free shipping to the US is done using FedEx 2 day shipping, only on in-stock orders. If you’ve selected a made-to-order ring, it will take the two weeks to create the ring, plus the two day shipping. International orders may take 2-5 days for shipping, but are still free. Grown Brilliance ships to a variety of countries outside of the US including: Australia, Canada, Denmark, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, and Qatar
Return and Exchange Policies: Grown Brilliance has a 30-day return policy. Special orders and Truly Custom orders can only be returned for store credit. If your ring has had any engraving or resizing done outside of the Grown Brilliance company, it is not eligible for return.
All returns must have all their paperwork with them. If a diamond certificate is not returned, there will be a $100 fee. More details on their shipping and return policies can be found here.
Brilliant Earth also offers free shipping, but they extend this service to specific international destinations, including the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.
Return and Exchange Policies: Just like Grown Brilliance, Brilliant Earth provides a 30-day return window. For items under $1000, returns can be done using the online returns portal. For items over that limit, you’ll need to contact them by phone.
Return exceptions at Brilliant Earth include rings that have been resized, previously exchanged items, personalized fine jewelry, and custom orders. If your ring has an engraving on it, it still can be returned, but a $40 fee will be charged to remove the engraving.
You can find more about their shipping and returns here.
Which is the better fit for you – Grown Brilliance or Brilliant Earth?
Grown Brilliance offers a boutique experience, with a focus on lab-grown diamonds. Their modern settings and competitive pricing make them a strong contender, especially for those who prioritize sustainability, modern designs, and a carbon-neutral diamond.
Brilliant Earth is a well-known name and offers a wide variety of options via ethically sourced mined diamonds and lab grown diamonds. Their extensive range and various stores across the US make them a top contender, even if their prices are higher than Grown Brilliance.
In the end, the best choice boils down to your personal preferences and priorities. If environmental concerns and price are the main factors, you may be better off with an engagement ring from Grown Brilliance.
If you’d like to buy from a company that also offers ethical mined diamonds and supports other charitable causes, Brilliant Earth might be the one for you.
Whichever diamond retailer you choose, you can ensure a beautiful piece from a reputable company.
FAQs
What is the primary difference between Grown Brilliance and Brilliant Earth?
Grown Brilliance primarily focuses on lab-grown diamonds and offers a customized modern ring builder, while Brilliant Earth offers a broad selection of both natural and lab-grown diamonds, and an extensive ring setting selection.
Which retailer offers a better warranty on their jewelry?
Both retailers offer a free warranty that covers defects, but routine repairs are done through Extend plans, which both Grown Brilliance and Brilliant Earth offer. There is essentially no difference between the warranties offered by the two companies because it is the same partner company with Extend.
Do both retailers offer international shipping?
Brilliant Earth offers free shipping to the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. Grown Brilliance offers free shipping on all orders, but it’s advisable to check their shipping policies for international destinations.